Ekowe poly NASU begins strike over unpaid union check-off dues

The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) of the Federal Polytechnic of Ekowe, Bayelsa State, has gone on strike in response to the suspension of check-off dues deductions for its members by the rector, Dr. Agbabiaka Adegoke, from January to March 2025.

Union leaders gathered on the campus to prevent their fellow members from providing services and staged a peaceful protest. They aimed to prevent fellow members from being persuaded by the management and urged the NASU branch to negotiate with the administration to resolve the issues.

The union insisted that its branch executives should engage in negotiations with management.

However, the executives stated that instead of negotiating with the branch, the management should communicate with the national executive of the union regarding the unsigned Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is to be formalized at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in Abuja. Otherwise, the strike will continue.

The protesting workers noted that despite intervention from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the rector has maintained a firm position, refusing to withdraw the directive to stop the deduction of union dues for NASU members.

According to the Nigerian Tribune, a letter dated February 6, 2025, and signed by the General Secretary of the national leadership of NASU, Prince Peter Adeyemi, advises the management to resume the deduction of check-off dues for NASU members to avoid potential legal consequences.

During the protest, the branch chairman of the union, Comrade Etebu Ebiyife, explained that “the rector, Dr. Agbabiaka Adegoke, has been utilizing our members for security and labor services, even though the Federal Government outsourced those services back in 2012.”

“He is using our members which are federal government staff to do contract work, while N5 Million Naira is given to the institution by Bayelsa State government every month as subvention as there contribution.

“Our national secretariat wrote to inform the rector that the suspension of the deduction of check-off for our members is illegal.

“Instead, he rather called the branch leadership to a management meeting asking us to resolve issue within ourselves, and that by end of April 2025, he will lift the suspension of check-off dues, if he pays April dues without going to federal ministry of Labour and employment to sign the MOU, is indicting to himself.

“He is also claiming that 42 persons who are ASUP members not NASU members wrote to him personally that they want to withdraw their membership from the union, and that that was the reason he suspended the remittance of our check-off dues without calling the Union’s to resolve the issue.

“The Federal ministry of Labour and Employment told him that the proper thing any member who wishes to withdraw his membership is to write the union and not the management of the institution. That is the constitutional thing to do, yet he went ahead to suspend the deduction of our check-off dues.

“What we know is that the national has given a directive that we should embark on this strike until he goes to Abuja and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, NASU and SSANIP and Rector of the institution.. before the strike would be called off.

A management staff who pleaded anonymity said the decision to suspend the deduction of members chech-off deus of the union was taken because management felt it was wrong for union to forcefully collect dues from people who have voluntary decided to pulled out of the union.

He further said “when the matter raised concerns, the unions met with management, and it was resolved that by the end of April 2025, the suspension will be lifted, both ASUP and SSANIP accepted the cajoling bargain but that NASU rejected the offer on some grounds that were not comfortable for them to handle in-house.

“If management has said, they would commence payment from April based on your agitations, we can do well to understand and watch it would be implemented before further issues can be raised. But NASU rejected the offer on the ground that the Abuja MOU supersede that of the one the management wants the Union to enter with them.”

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